Another pair of platforms are poised to join the likes of Facebook, X, TikTok, WhatsApp and YouTube in the EU Digital Services Act’s Very Large Online Platforms list, according to Bloomberg. With that designation comes stricter rules, which I’m sure the Roblox Corporation and OpenAI will be happy to follow.
The DSA designates any platform with more than 45 million users a month a VLOP. So well done, Roblox and ChatGPT, you are inexplicably popular, but now you’ve got to try to be more transparent, both in your terms and conditions, and when it comes to reporting crimes.
Both the EU Commission and the platforms declined to comment when approached by Bloomberg, but should the designation go forward, here’s what they’ll have to do, according to the EU Commission website:
- Establish a point of contact for authorities and users
- Report criminal offenses
- Have user-friendly terms and conditions
- Be transparent as regards advertising, recommender systems or content moderation decisions
Roblox and ChatGPT will also need to “identify, analyse, and assess systemic risks” relating to:
- Illegal content
- Fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression, media freedom and pluralism, discrimination, consumer protection and children’s rights
- Public security and the electoral process
- Gender-based violence, public health, protections of minors, and mental and physical wellbeing
That’s just the beginning, though. Once these risks have been identified, the platforms have an obligation to actually mitigate the risks. “This could mean adapting the design or functioning of their services or changing their recommender systems.” On top of that, they’ll have to take these steps:
- Establish an internal compliance function that ensures that the risks identified are mitigated
- Be audited by an independent auditor at least once a year and adopt measures that respond to the auditor’s recommendations
- Share their data with the Commission and national authorities so that they can monitor and assess compliance with the DSA
- Allow vetted researchers to access platform data when the research contributes to the detection, identification and understanding of system risks in the EU
- Provide an option in their recommender systems that is not based on user profiling
- Have a publicly available repository of advertisements
Honestly, they are getting off easy. Roblox and ChatGPT have lamentably been woven into the fabric of everyday life, and even if you don’t engage with them at all, you’ll likely be affected by them.
I’ve never played Roblox, but I feel compelled to stay on top of the platform not just because of my job, but as an uncle to two young children who desperately want to use it. It’s been criticised for years due to the risk of children being exposed to creeps, and in February LA County sued the Roblox Corporation for creating “an unsafe environment that has become a breeding ground for predators”.
Meanwhile, ChatGPT, along with other LLMs, has wormed its way into seemingly every aspect of our lives. It’s had a brutal impact on academia, literature, the law and basic human communication. Worse, it’s allegedly led to users committing suicide, accused users of made-up crimes, and high-paid CEOs are now using it to do their job for them, including Krafton’s CEO, who tried to use it to get out of paying Unknown Worlds a $250 million earnout.
There’s simply no escaping them, so anything that forces them to be less shady is probably a positive step. That said, will it actually help? X is still rife with misinformation and nazis, despite being designated a VLOP in 2023. The EU then investigated it due to a variety of issues including transparency and moderation, which led to a $140 million fine. X has appealed the fine, of course, and it remains a cesspit—though it has agreed to address the violations.
If X is forced to pay the fine, it may give more weight to the VLOP designation. If X wins the appeal, however, it’ll send a message to the other platforms on the list: You can do what you want.
